Ministry of Railways
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Amrit Bharat 2.0 trains to provide affordable service and high quality travelling experience to lower income families: Union Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in Chennai

Posted On: 10 JAN 2025 4:20PM by PIB Chennai

“Amrit Bharat 2.0 will provide affordable service and high quality travelling experience for people in the lower income and lower middle income category.” This was stated by  Union Minister of Railways and  Information and Broadcasting Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw  in Chennai today.

 

Speaking to reporters at the Link Coach Factory premises in  the capital city, he said that Amrit Bharat 2.0 has been designed based on the experience of Amrit Bharat 1.0, which was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi last year, and the experience of Vande Bharat sleeper trains. The Minister  listed the 12 major improvements that have been made in the entire train. Semi-automatic couplers, modular toilets with new type of construction materials, strong pillar and partition, emergency talk back features, EP assisted brake system, newly designed seats and berths, pantry car in new design, continuous lighting system like Vande Bharat, fire detection  system, gangways, external emergency lights, charging sockets along with mobile phone holders are the key features of Amrit Bharat 2.0.

 

 The Minister informed that 50 such coaches will be manufactured in the next two years. He said that Amrit Bharat trains will provide comprehensive services to the people at a very low cost, based on Prime Minister's mantra of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas". He said that these trains will provide a better travelling experience and high-quality service to those travelling long distances.

Later, answering the questions of the reporters, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw said that for the safety of train passengers, accident-preventing devices have been installed in 10,000 train engines, so far. Recalling that an accident was averted due to early detection of a bolt being removed from a point machine near Chennai, the Minister said that now such bolts are manufactured in a new design and are installed in the point machine in such a way that no one can remove it.

While answering another question, the Minister said that  with the completion of the construction of the railway line between Jammu and Kashmir,a dream has come true. He mentioned that this railway line, which is more than 100 km long, has about 97 km of tunnels and about 6 km of bridges. The Minister said that the safety commissioner has completed the speed test for train traffic on this line.

 

Later, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw inspected the production of railway wheels at the Ramakrishna Thidakar Private Factory located in Puduvayal village of Tiruvallur district. During this inspection, Southern Railway General Manager Shri  R.N. Singh, ICF General Manager Shri Subrao and others accompanied the Minister.

Speaking to the media, the Minister said that the Railways requires 80,000 strong and durable train wheels and for this, a train wheel manufacturing factory has been established in collaboration with a private company under the “Make in India” scheme. He mentioned that this company will start production in February 2026. The Minister  further stated that the wheels manufactured in this company have the potential to be used domestically as well as exported  to foreign countries.

 

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